Currently there are a number of electronic inclinometer and level devices disclosed in the prior art. The simpler of these devices in general attempt to apply an electrical circuit to a known device, such as a bubble level, and therefrom directly provide a readout of the orientation of the level. Complicated inclinometers tend to take the same approach but are more bulky and cumbersome to use. In general these prior art inclinometers are difficult to manufacture due to alignment constraints and tolerances required to accurately position the sensing device into the housing. Errors in the manufacture of the sensing device and in the mounting of the sensing device in the housing can only be reminded through a practice of discarding faulty sensors and/or manufacturing the entire inclinometer with very exciting and costly procedures. Further, should the inclinometer not be rugged enough, ordinary field use would require that the inclinometer either be discarded when it provides inaccurate readings or sent back to the manufacturer for recalibration.
In addition, the prior art devices provide no compensation nor indication that the device while properly positioned on one plane, for example the pitch plane, could for example have too much of an angle in a perpendicular plane such as the roll plane so as to provide an inaccurate pitch reading. Also the effects of temperature on inclinometers are not accounted for.
Finally, most inclinometers provide for only one or two readout formats requiring additional use of tables and the like for translation into other desired readings.